City of South Bend v. Martin

29 L.R.A. 531, 41 N.E. 315, 142 Ind. 31, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 135
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 17, 1895
DocketNo. 17,499
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 29 L.R.A. 531 (City of South Bend v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of South Bend v. Martin, 29 L.R.A. 531, 41 N.E. 315, 142 Ind. 31, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 135 (Ind. 1895).

Opinion

McCabe, J.

The appellant prosecuted the appellee before the mayor of said city, to recover the penalty of not less than $1.00 nor more than $20.00 provided in an ordinance, with a violation of which the appellee was charged in the verified complaint filed. Said complaint charged “that the defendant, on the 12th day of Sep-' tember, 1894, at the city * * * aforesaid, violated sections Nos. 24 and 25 of the ordinance No. 938 of said city, passed by the common council thereof on the 11th day of December, 1893, and amended August, 1894, by carrying on the business of hawking and peddling within the corporate limits of the city of South Bend, by carrying, exposing, offering and crying for sale articles of merchandise, to-wit: rattan rocking chairs, in the public streets and avenues of said city, without having a license for that purpose. That while so engaged, the defendant sold and delivered to one Emma Wright one rattan rocking chair for the sum of six dollars. That said articles of merchandise so sold were not newspapers, nor produce, nor provisions, and that said sales were not for future delivery of said chairs. That defendant is [33]*33not a wholesale traveling merchant. ” The- city recovered judgment in the mayor’s court for one dollar, and the defendant appealed to the circuit court, where a trial resulted in a judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff appeals therefrom to this court. One of the questions presented by the record and briefs is whether the ordinance referred to is valid. That alone rescues the appeal from the exclusive jurisdiction of the appellate court. Acts 1891, p. 39; R. S. 1894, section 1331. The only error assigned is that the circuit court overruled appellant’s motion for a new trial. The ground of the motion for a new trial is that the decision of the court was contrary to law and the evidence.

The only evidence in the cause was the following agreed statement of facts: A. H. Ordway & Company are manufacturers of rattan chairs, residing in South Framingham, Mass., of which State they are citizens,, and in which city they have their manufactory and place of business.' In the prosecution of the said business they sell directly to the people of the different States, and do not sell to retail dealers in the trade. They ship their chairs from the factory to A. H. Ordway & Company, in care of their agents at different points throughout the United States.”

' In the prosecution of their said business, they employ men who go about from town to town in Indiana and other States of the union with the chairs, going personally from house to house, and selling the chairs on the installment plan, retaining the title in the chairs until they are fully paid for, and deliver the goods at the time the sales are made.

The defendant, William O. Martin, was an employe of the said A. H. Ordway & Company, employed by them to travel and sell their chairs in the manner stated, [34]*34•upon a commission on the amount of his sales, at the time of his arrest, September 13, 1894.

The particular chairs, in which defendant was engaged in selling in South Bend, Indiana, at the time of his arrest, were shipped by the owners and manufacturers, A. H. Ordway & Company, from South Framingham, Mass., to A. H. Ordway & Company, in care of their agent at Chicago, State of Illinois, where they have a branch and repository, and there reshipped from Chicago to South Bend, Indiana.

The defendant, William C. Martin, at the time of his arrest, and before, was engaged in selling chairs within the corporate limits of the city of South Bend, by going personally from house to house within said city, and selling the chairs and delivering the same at the time of sale, and was acting solely for A. H. Ordway & Company, and the said sales were made on the installment plan, and title retained in A. H. Ordway & Company until the same are fully paid for. The common council of the city of South Bend had enacted an ordinance, in force at the time of the arrest of the said William O. Martin, entitled:

‘An ordinance concerning the licensing of certain extraordinary trades and establishments. Passed December 11, 1893. Amended August 28, 1894.” Section 24 of said ordinance provides as follows: “It shall be unlawful for any person to carry on the business of hawking and peddling within' the corporate limits of South Bend, at wholesale or retail, by carrying, exposing or crying for sale, within any street, avenue, alley or public square of said city, or otherwise, any article of commerce without a license from said city for that purpose; Provided, this section shall not apply to the sale of newspapers, nor to produce and provisions, nor fruit of peddlers’ own raising, nor to taking orders for future deliv[35]*35ery of any kind of goods, wares or merchandise, nor to wholesale traveling merchants, and farmers, who sell only retail dealers in like commodities.

“Any person violating any section of this ordinance, shall he fined, for each offense, not less than one dollar, nor more than twenty dollars.

“Section 25. — License to hawkers and peddlers shall be signed by the mayor and countersigned, registered and delivered to the applicant by the clerk, on payment of a license fee as follows: For carrying goods by hand, one dollar per day, five dollars per week, ten dollars per month and twenty dollars per year. For selling from any kind of vehicle, two dollars per day, eight dollars per week, fifteen dollars per month, twenty-five dollars per year. The clerk for such services shall receive fifty cents for each license issued to be paid by the applicant.

“Section 26. — Yo license issued under any section of fhis ordinance shall be transferable, nor shall any person other than the person named in the license, be permitted to use the same, nor shall any license protect any person from incurring the penalties prescribed by this ordinance, except the licensee named in the license.”

The defendant, William O. Martin, at the time of his arrest, was not engaged in' the sale of newspapers, produce, provisions or fruit, and was not taking orders for future delivery, and was not a wholesale traveling merchant, but was selling at retail to consumers. The defendant, at the time of his arrest, had not obtained a license, as required by said ordinance. The defendant was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $1.00 and costs, under said ordinance, before D. B. J. Schafer, mayor of said city of South Bend, September 13, 1894. If the court should be of the opinion, upon the facts stated, that the defendant was liable to pay the license fee provided by said ordinance, then [36]*36judgment to be rendered for the plaintiff for one dollar ($1.00) and costs of suit. If the court should be of opinion that the said Martin was not liable to pay, then, judgment to be entered for the defendant for costs of suit.

Subdivision 23 of section 3106, R. S. 1881 (R. S. 1894, section 3541), empowers cities “To regulate the ringing of hells and crying of goods, and to restrain hawking and peddling.”

It has been held by this court that this statuary provision empowers a city to pass an ordinance requiring a license to hawk and peddle in a city. City of Huntington v. Cheesbro, 57 Ind. 74.

The ordinance involved in Graffty v. City of Rush-ville, 107 Ind.

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Bluebook (online)
29 L.R.A. 531, 41 N.E. 315, 142 Ind. 31, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-south-bend-v-martin-ind-1895.